Amongst Friends
by Edoras
Summary: Post series. Meryl, Milly, and Vash live together and find that life goes on.


Not long post-series. Meryl, Milly, and Vash are living together and Knives remains unconscious. Basically life goes on, even after all they've been through. Focuses largely on their friendship, especially between Meryl and Milly.  
  
Quick note: I've kept in -san and senpai because I watched the Japanese version and I have trouble imagining Milly speaking any other way.  
  
--  
  
"Is it done yet?" The tall, shaggy headed outlaw whined from the door to the kitchen.  
  
Milly flashed him a smile from her place at the stove. "Five more minutes, Vash-san."  
  
"But I'm sooo hungry." He clutched his stomach sadly.  
  
"If you really want to hurry things along you can do something useful like set the table." Replied Meryl with a mock serious glare and a wave of the knife she was cutting vegetables with.  
  
"You're always so mean to me." Vash pouted as he reached over the short insurance girl to take out a stack of plates from the cabinet. Then went on to balance three glasses on top before moving on to pull silverware out of a drawer while waving the aforementioned above his head. He knew Meryl was watching him and could barely keep from laughing as he counted down to the explosion. 4. 3. 2. 1.  
  
"Vash, be careful with those!" Meryl cried out, unable to contain herself any longer. She dropped her knife and ran over to try to save her dishes from the bumbling outlaw. But Vash held them up out of the short girl's reach as she tried vainly to grab at his arm. He purposely teetered a little, enjoying pushing Meryl's buttons.  
  
Milly smiled at her friends' antics before draining the spaghetti and turning off the light under the sauce. "All done!" Her voice rang out merrily, taking Meryl's attention away from Vash long enough for him to place his precariously balanced load on the table.  
  
Seeing her dishes out of danger Meryl dashed back to her chopping board. "Just give me a couple more seconds to finish the salad." The other occupants of the room stared at her as she chopped like a maniac. "All done!" She sang with a smile as she carried the salad over to her rather awestruck companions.  
  
"Wow, Senpai, I didn't know you were so good with a knife!"  
  
Dinner passed amiably, with friendly chitchat interspersed between the clink of knives and forks on plates and the sounds of Vash slurping down huge mouthfuls of spaghetti. Meryl griped about some of the customers at the bar, leading Vash to talk about some of its female customers till he earned himself a firm bonk on the head.  
  
Milly picked up the conversational pieces with some chatter about how excited she was about the prospects for irrigating the field now they had struck water. It was hoped that the first crop would be ready for harvest by fall.  
  
"Speaking of work, Milly, you and Dirk seemed pretty cozy at lunch today." Remarked Vash, with his best innocent look as he watched Milly's now reddening cheeks.  
  
Milly's blush didn't go unnoticed by Meryl either. Glancing between the overly-innocent Vash, and Milly, who's gaze seemed fixed on the almost empty plate before her, Meryl attempted to figure out what was going on. "Dirk? The guy who lives across from the grocery store?" Her gaze fixed on her now nodding former partner, who had started fiddling uncontrollably with her fork. "What happened at lunch?"  
  
"N-nothing. We were just talking. Vash-san, you make it sound so serious. It was nothing. Really." Her proclamation was followed by an overly bright giggle which didn't help her argument.  
  
"Milly, what's going on?" Asked Meryl while skewering Milly with her most business like no-nonsense look.  
  
"We were just talking." Milly did her best to meet Meryl's gaze, but was no match for her senpai's look. "And he asked me out to dinner." Milly's voice and gaze both dropped, "And I said yes."  
  
Meryl broke out into a smile. "That's great Milly! Why didn't you say anything earlier?"  
  
"I wasn't sure what you'd think." Milly met Meryl's smile with one of her own.  
  
"Oh, Milly. I couldn't be happier for you. I was beginning to worry about you."  
  
"Time to celebrate!" Yelled Vash, jumping up. "Donuts!"  
  
"And pudding?!" Milly chimed in, smiling and clapping.  
  
Meryl put her head in her hands and moaned as her former partner cleared the table and former job grabbed the requested sweets. "I'm surrounded by insane people with sugar fetishes."  
  
"What's wrong with pudding?"  
  
"Come on Meryl. Donut." Meryl did her best to bite the hand waving the donut in front of her face. But resistance was useless against the good cheer of both Vash and Milly; Meryl soon found herself laughing and eating as much sugar as the rest.  
  
----  
  
Night found Meryl lying awake, staring at the hole in the fifth moon through the window. Sleep was simply not coming to her this evening. She didn't know how long she had been lying there listening to her lover's soft breaths and staring into the sky, but it felt like hours. Finally, giving in to her insomnia, she slipped as gently as possible out of bed and tiptoed quietly out the door, leaving it slightly ajar so as not to risk the noise of its closing. Vash tended to be a light sleeper; Meryl assumed it was due to his outlaw past and didn't want to inflict him with her insomnia as well.  
  
Slipping quietly into the kitchen, she went to get herself some herbal tea to help her relax. She found the teapot by the light of the moon, and was surprised to feel the heat rising from it. There was just enough water left for a decent cup of tea. Glancing around she also noticed the door to the porch was slightly ajar. Blowing the steam rising from her mug, she slipped out the door to find her friend sitting on the porch steps as expected.  
  
Milly glanced up as Meryl walked out and sat down opposite her on the steps with her back to the railing. "Senpai! I hope I didn't wake you. I tried to be as quiet as possible." Her worried voice fading out as Meryl waved off her comment.  
  
"It was my own silly insomnia that kept me up. And you don't have to call me 'Senpai' anymore, you know?" Meryl stated lightly, and was surprised to see Milly look down, anxiety flickering over her normally happy face.  
  
"I know. It's just, I've used it so long and I guess." Milly paused, fidgeting nervously. "I guess it just feels right now. You don't mind, do you?" Milly glanced up into her friends eyes.  
  
Meryl chuckled; amused by how nervous Milly got about such as small thing. "Course not. I guess it does feel kind of right." Meryl's face became more thoughtful, "After all, we didn't really get to know each other till we were traveling together. And then we were basically always working, skirting disaster, never just hanging out as friends."  
  
Meryl's voice died out, leaving the two woman staring up into the night sky, thinking over all they had come through together. It had been quite a journey. Following Vash the Stampede had certainly never been boring. Neither was quite the same as she had been starting out.  
  
"Milly?" The sound of her name in the silence made the young woman jump. "Why didn't you think I'd be happy for you?"  
  
Milly could feel the eyes on her and couldn't bring herself to meet their gaze. "I. I just thought. You know. That maybe you'd think I was betraying him. Wolfwood, I mean." The tears that had been threatening finally escaped her large brown eyes as she nervously moved her hands in her lap. "It's been less than a year. And I did really love him. I didn't want you to think I was just forgetting about him so easily."  
  
She could hear Meryl shuffling near her and felt two small arms wrapping around her and a head resting on her shoulder. "Oh Milly. I would never think that of you. I know how much you cared about Wolfwood, and I know you'd never simply forget about him. But I also know that your not the kind of person who should live her life alone." Meryl looked up and into the eyes of her old friend. "You have so much love in you, you need to share it. And now that I have Vash." Meryl looked down, feeling nervous in turn. "I was worried that you'd be lonely with the two of us always together."  
  
Milly threw her arms around the smaller woman in a giant bear hug. "I could never be lonely with you two."  
  
"Ribs, ribs." Meryl gasped, finding the hug to be somewhat more than she could easily handle. Milly loosened her grasp, realizing her mistake. With a sigh of relief, Meryl went on; "I know you care about us. But I've also seen the look you get when I'm with Vash and you have no one. Hey, you're not the only observant one when it comes to others' love lives." Meryl quipped, then added softly, "I want you to be happy."  
  
"I know, Senpai." Milly leaned against the railing and stared up into the starry sky. But the conflict within was still apparent on her face, which didn't hold the innocent joy that Meryl usually associated with her long time colleague. Meryl knew it was Milly herself who was worried she was betraying her past love by finding a new one. Sometimes it was hard to let the past go.  
  
"Milly." Meryl's voice broke the silence once again. "Do you think he would want you to be alone?"  
  
Milly stared at Meryl in surprise. "I. I don't know. I guess not."  
  
"Well, I know he wouldn't." Meryl stated, taking on her best in-charge voice. "I saw how he looked at you. He wouldn't want you to be lonely. He would want you to get on with your life, be happy, and have lots of children to spread joy the same way you do."  
  
It took a few seconds, but soon the normal bright smile covered Milly's face once again. "Thank you, Senpai." She gave Meryl one more quick hug, before turning her face back up to the sky. "Lots of children? I wonder what Dirk thinks of large families."  
  
"I'm sure you can talk him into it." Meryl stared up at the stars too.  
  
"And we could name the first boy Nicholas." Milly added softly.  
  
The two women continued to sit there in a companionable silence. Staring at the stars they could feel the vast number of possibilities the future held in store for them, even as their tea slowly cooled. Somehow, sitting next to a good friend, it was impossible to feel afraid.  
  
--  
  
I hope you liked it.  
  
Please review. Especially because this was started as a missing scene fic for a story I'm working on and I'd like to know what you think of the characterizations. 


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